Introduction

This is my second guide on MOBAfire, and my first totally serious one. First off, I'd like to give Fuggernought recognition for his guide, which taught me how to play Mundo when I first started playing League. Many of the concepts of this guide are based on what I learned from that guide combined with personal experience and theorycrafting. With this guide, I am hoping to make a comprehensive compilation of the most valuable information on how Mundo can be played well.

Mundo and his role(s)

Mundo is a very, very durable melee champion, and benefits greatly from stacking a ton of health items. His job is to stick onto people and hit them really hard and be extremely hard to kill. In teamfights, he has no CC to offer, but can effectively bodyblock skillshots and deal a good amount of AoE damage with Burning Agony, as well as single-target with Masochism.

Mundo, in my experience, is a very powerful top-laner, who is simply very hard to kill, and has infinite sustain due to having no resource and massive health regen. Later, he turns into a hypertank that simply can't be harmed by anyone but Vayne. However, at very early game (levels 1-5), he is relatively vulnerable to being ganked and shut down. Before he has some health items and Sadism, he can be fairly weak in the lane.

Mundo can also be a powerful jungler. He has extremely fast clear times due to the high base damage of Burning Agony. However, he takes a lot of damage because that ability saps his health quickly. Also, his ganks are slightly subpar, due to having no hard CC and no burst damage of note. It can be very hard to effectively gank lanes if your team has little or no hard CC to back you up. However, when being counter-jungled, he can essentially win any duel, due to simply not dying while he does massive damage to the enemy. Later on, he turns into a group tank similar to when he's played top, and helps out in teamfights, mostly through the use of aura items and actives.

Another very fun way to play Mundo is with magic penetration. This causes Mundo's cleavers to do nearly true damage on many targets, as well as making the most of his AoE damage. He can still be an effective bruiser, depending on what your item choices are. Later on, he basically just stands in the middle of teamfights doing high magic damage per second to everyone near him, and lobbing cleavers every 4 seconds or so.

I'm attempting to give an in-depth explanation of each of these play styles in this guide.

Mundo's Pros and Cons

Top Mundo

Pros

Nearly impossible to kill lategame

Absolutely massive amount of health and health regen, as well as resistances

Mundo's Abilities

Mundo gains health regen equal to 0.3% of his max HP.
In other words, Mundo gains HP5 equal to 1.5% of his max HP.

This means that for every 1000 health you have, you will get an extra 3 HP regen per second. This makes it unbelievably effective to build nothing but health items on Mundo. My normal build on Mundo ends up with around 5000 health total, which means that the passive boosts my total health regen by about 15 per second.

This passive makes Mundo exceptional at early-game sustain, as well as being able to finish a teamfight and then go push or kill dragon without having to recall. This passive also synergizes well with Warmog's Armor, equaling out to a total of .5% of your health per second. That means that at 5000 health, you would regain 25 health per second. Plus anything from masteries or Mundo's base stats, of course.

Throws a skillshot cleaver with fairly wide radius and 1000 range, at the same speed as Ezreal's ult and Q. Does % magic damage and slows.

Mundo's skillshot, and his only move with any range to speak of. It costs a flat amount of HP based on the ability's level, but refunds half of it if the cleaver hits an enemy. It can be a neutral monster, a minion, or a champion, or even one of Shaco's Jack-in-the-Boxes.

The cleaver itself does magical damage equal to a percentage of the enemy's current health, with a minimum amount of damage as well, both of these based on the ability's level. Due to the fact it does percentage magical damage, magic penetration can be very effective on Mundo. More on that later.

The cleaver also has a powerful slow, and a very short cooldown. This allows Mundo to stick on enemies or escape very effectively, as well as allowing for incredible harass in lane. It also helps Mundo clear even faster in the jungle, due to the percentage "true" damage you're dealing to the monsters. Simultaneously, you can use it for safer farming in the lane if you're in a dangerous situation, like having two ranged champions fighting you solo.

Toggle that does AoE magic damage and saps health every second. Also reduces incoming disables.

This ability gives Mundo exceptional jungle clears, dueling capability, and pushing capability lategame. It also makes him a complete juggernaut with the 10-30% CC reduction. This ability hardly benefits from AP, but benefits greatly from magic penetration. However, early-game, this ability will hurt you greatly. Only use it on enemy champions, never just to last-hit. Late-game, though, it's an excellent pushing tool, and once you have a lot of health, you can basically have it on all the time.

Gives Mundo a lot of AD for 5 seconds in exchange for a small amount of health.

Mundo's E costs him a small amount of flat health, in return for a massive AD buff that increases by 1% for every 1% of health he is missing. This allows Mundo great tower-killing capability, pushing power, and dueling power. Also, in a worst-case scenario, can help you farm a bit easier. It is also highly useful in the jungle, and it part of the reason for Mundo's very fast clears. It also has a very short cooldown, especially if you build some cooldown reduction. You can even get it to the point where you can have it on forever, if you have maximum cooldown reduction. You should spam this on cooldown when fighting champions, taking objectives, clearing jungle, or pushing a lane.

Regenerates a large percentage of Mundo's health and gives him a movement speed boost over 12 seconds.

Mundo's ult is really what makes him impossible to kill, and the main reason it's a good idea to build a massive amount of health on him. It regenerates 40/50/60% of his maximum health over 12 seconds, giving him a large speed boost over the duration. While it has no other effects, just these two aspects of it provide a lot of utility. You can use it if you get ganked to prevent yourself from dying and set the enemy jungler back a bit, you can use it to sustain longer in the lane or jungle, you can use it to take dragon fairly early, and so on. The main use of it late-game is in teamfights, allowing Mundo to stay in the fray and deal a lot of damage without much chance of dying. Also, Spirit Visage is a highly useful item on Mundo due to its synchronization with this ability; with a Visage you'll instead regenerate 48/60/72% of your max health total.

Skill Sequence

Top

Generally, my choice of skills to level 5 is:
I do this because I need Infected Cleaver at level 1 for harass and sometimes farming in a hard lane. After that, I get Masochism and Burning Agony in case I need to defend myself from enemy attempts at killing me, or early ganks. I prioritize Burning Agony in leveling because it's Mundo's main source of damage, as well as the CC reduction being extremely helpful against ganks.

Past that, my skill priority is:>(&)>
I take Sadism whenever possible for obvious reasons: it gives incredible early game sustain, chasing capability, escaping capability, and even roaming capability if you don't have a (competent) jungler. After that, I take my main damage abilities, Burning Agony and Masochism in equal parts, since they are equally important. Also, this allows you to do good damage regardless of which resistance your enemy is building. Finally, I take Infected Cleaver on last priority because I use it almost exclusively for the slow. Taking a second level in it early could prove to kill some fleeing enemies at low health where it otherwise wouldn't kill them.

Jungle

To level 5, I level the following abilities:
I take Burning Agony at level 1 because it's what makes Mundo clear very quickly. After that, I find Infected Cleaver is useful for getting that first instance of high damage off on a blue wraith or the giant wolf or what have you. Also, it has a spammable cooldown. Then, I take Masochism to give more of a damage buff when clearing, as well as allowing better gank potential if an early gank is needed. Then, I take Burning Agony again since it's Mundo's main source of damage in the jungle, plus if I need to gank, the CC reduction helps against failed ganks due to snares or stuns. Again, I take Masochism in equal parts to Burning Agony, so I take it at level 5.

After level 5, my skill priority is as follows:>(&)>
As with top Mundo, and nearly any champion in League, it's important to take Mundo's ult whenever available. When it's not, again, I take Burning Agony and Masochism in equal parts to have a good balance of damage. Then, when I can't upgrade my other damage skills, I get Infected Cleaver. Again, a second level in it earlier may help with finishing some enemies, but I mostly get it for the slow.

Masteries

Top Mundo

After the nerf to Spirit Visage, it's more important than ever to throw some points into Sorcery . Sticking a point in Butcher also helps out a lot with Mundo's last-hitting. Other than that, put it all into defensive because dying is for scrubs.

Jungle Mundo

Jungle Mundo, like Top Mundo, doesn't really need either AD or AP, but perhaps having some attack speed and Butcher could help out a bit with clearing. Other than that, standard tank jungle masteries, for the whole "not-dying" thing.

Runes

Marks

x9 - Mundo does chiefly magic damage, but can't usually afford to build any magic penetration items. Therefore, it helps massively to have magic penetration.

x9 - Jungle Mundo could benefit greatly from attack speed for faster clears, in order to take less damage from Burning Agony, but magic pen marks will give you more damage during ganks. With the new season's OP jungle, I'd say attack speed is the way to go.

Seals

x9 - The only way to go. Many people would try to tell you to get flat HP runes on Mundo, but it's so little health that it hardly makes any difference whatsoever. The damage reduction from 13 armor is much better. If you've got % health seals, those could be interesting, but I'd say that in most cases the armor is better, and in the jungle especially so.

Glyphs

x9 - Scaling magic resist is the best way to go since not very many magic resist items are viable on Mundo.

x9 - Useful for jungle Mundo if you plan on ganking mid a lot early game, but you'll run a little lower on magic resist later.

x9 - If you really think you don't need the magic resist, more magic penetration could be a large benefit to your damage. However, Mundo is a tank, after all.

Quintessences

x3 - Movement speed is great on Mundo, for roaming and ganking, as well as chasing and escaping. Highly recommended on top Mundo.

x3 - I've been experimenting with spellvamp for jungle Mundo, and it certainly helps him stay a bit more healthy when clearing. However, you do move slower, making it slower to move between camps and harder to gank. In this new jungle, I'd say they're almost the only choice.

x3 - Again, more magic penetration can result in more damage, but at the cost of other good stats for Mundo. Also, these are very expensive runes.

Summoner Spells: Why or Why not

Recommended Summoner Spells - I take Ghost because it allows me to get to lanes more easily, escape, chase, etc. It synergizes well with Sadism.

- Mundo has extremely low kill potential early game without Ignite; enemies can often just duel you to death, or run away. Ignite mitigates this risk.

- I take Smite when jungling to clear buffs faster and help with invading/counterjungling when applicable.

- I usually take Exhaust on jungle Mundo to help with ganks. Mundo is a strong ganker for the most part, but sometimes you need that extra slow and it also makes the enemy take more damage now.

Also Viable

- Teleport is fantastic for getting back to your lane quickly or getting to a teamfight at lightspeed. It would replace Ignite, so if you're confident that you don't need Ignite, take this instead.

- Everyone loves Flash. It's a great spell and all, but personally, I don't think Mundo needs it very much. He doesn't need to escape over walls or dodge skillshots, because he's just too hard to kill to need it. Ghost is better for escaping as well as chasing. However, if you're only confident with Flash, it's not as if it's worthless on Mundo.

Top Item Explanations

When going top with Mundo, I build items that allow me to be an unkillable endgame tank. Mundo doesn't really need any damage items to deal very good damage, so in my opinion, this is a good way to build him.

Starting Item Options

- After its recent changes, Doran's Shield has regained its status as a good tank starting item. Take in general lanes that you don't expect to be either easy or overbearing.

- Take in easy lanes or ones where you won't be up against much physical damage. Builds into stuff later.

Boot Options

- These boots are a good choice compared to other boots as a tanking role because of the fact they give you the magic resist that you need due to Force of Nature being removed. Also, the tenacity makes you much harder to lock down. I get these essentially every game.

- These boots, taken immediately on first shop visit, would give Mundo much more early-game damage potential, at the cost of magic resist and tenacity. Feel free to risk it if you plan on building more than one magic resist item, or if you're getting decently fed to capitalize on your lead and snowball.

Early Game Items

- Bami's is the new Giant's Belt rush for Mundo. You want to build yourself a Sunfire, so the extra AoE damage and health are great to have early.

- You need boots to escape ganks and move around and dodge things, and so on and so forth.

- Cowl is really good if you're against a frustrating AP lane like Teemo.

Core Items

- Gives a lot of armor and health, which are the two most important tank stats, as well as a good damage aura. It's also not very expensive.

- This gives you a bunch of magic resist, decent health, health regen, and increased self-healing, plus a little bit of cooldown reduction. There's not really anything that can replace this item for Mundo. He needs the stats on it more than anything.

- With Warmog's being nerfed into the ground, it's better to just get a Randuin's at this point. Gives you a ton of effective health, and the active gives more teamfight potential.

Situational Items

- If you need even more magic resistance, and/or need to block important abilities, a Veil is a good choice. Also gives a decent amount of health. In conjunction with a Spirit Visage, you'll end up with so much regen that it'll be nearly impossible to whittle you down.

- Currently better than Warmog's on Mundo, which is hard to believe, but true. Gives nearly as much health as well as some damage, but more importantly, a slow on-hit that prevents people from ever getting away. Allows for much better peeling and chasing.

- If the enemy has a few champions with extremely high autoattack damage, such as Yi, this can drastically help you out.

- I personally love this item, but I often feel like I can't afford to give up survivability as Mundo. Regardless, it synergizes extremely well with Mundo's Infected Cleaver, allowing each of them to do a percentage burn, and the cleaver slow doubles it. The gold for the ability power isn't too well spent though. Take this if you're ahead and want to stomp.

Jungle Item Explanations

When jungling with Mundo, it's important to get stats that can help you sustain in the jungle, such as health, health regen, and armor. Also, it's useful to have some teamfight utility early on. Later on, Mundo must be able to roam the map and help his team while being durable. These items help achieve these goals.

Starting Items

Early Game Rush

- Gives you a lot more damage and tankiness in a gank, as well as allowing vision on the enemy if they try to get away.

- You need boots for moving between jungle camps and ganking. I have been experimenting with not upgrading boots until it's absolutely necessary, and it seems to work very well. Keep standard boots until you have an actual need for another pair.

- Cinderhulk is absolutely incredible on Mundo, and there's really nothing else he could use. Gives a ton of amazing things for him.

Core Items

- Since you're not building Sunfire, the first major tank item you should get is Randuin's, which will also help in ganks and early Dragon fights.

- Good durability item and buffs all of your healing, gives CDR, this is mentioned in the top item list.

- Mallet is even better for Jungle Mundo, since you need to be able to hold people down in ganks, and it can help you jungle faster to boot.

Boot Options

Buy level 2 boots when you have an actual need for them. Mundo doesn't need the speed too much because of his ult and Infected Cleaver, so take boots for the other effects.

- Cinderhulk unfortunately doesn't give tenacity, so having that is basically up to Mercury's Treads.

- This is a good buy if the enemy doesn't have too much hard CC and/or magical burst to worry about, and if they have a lot of physical damage to worry about.

Lategame Item Options

- If you need even more magic resistance, and/or need to block important abilities, a Veil is a good choice. Also gives a decent amount of health. In conjunction with a Spirit Visage, you'll have a massive amount of health regen for repeatedly fighting and going for objectives.

- If the enemy has some decent magic damage and your team needs the buff, get a Locket, assuming your support isn't.

- Thornmail is especially useful if the enemy has a lot of autoattack damage that's blowing up you and the rest of your team.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my guide, and good luck with it! Please feel free and encouraged to leave constructive criticism in the comments. If you feel I've missed anything, or I've done something wrong, please inform me. Thanks again to Fuggernought for teaching me how to play Mundo, and thanks to jhoijhoi for helping teach me how to write a MOBAfire guide. If there's anything else I can do to improve upon what I've got, let me know.

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